Symbol Analysis
The word "heart" shows up four times in this poem. In a poem that's only 16 lines long, that's once every four lines—quite a bit when you think about it. This is because the heart is really, really important. It is the seat of emotion and the "altar" upon which religious faith is built. That's basically what the speaker says in this poem. He builds an altar that is made out of his heart (a way of saying he's offering himself completely to God). In addition, the altar that is his poem is also full of his heart. Toward the end he talks about how all the parts of his "hard heart" meet in the poem to praise God. In short, the heart is the driving force behind religious faith (or praise of God) and artistic creation.
- Line 2: The altar is made out of the speaker's heart. Of course, it's not literally made out of a heart, so this is a metaphor for the fact that the speaker's heart and soul—his entire emotional being—is being offered to God.
- Lines 5-8: A heart isn't really a "stone," so this is again a metaphor for the fact that the heart is one of the building blocks for the speaker's altar and his poem. The heart is the basis or foundation for both.
- Lines 9-12: Again, the speaker points out the centrality of his "heart" to the altar-poem he has constructed. All the parts of his "hard heart" come together in the "frame" that is the poem, in order to praise God. This is basically a metaphor for the fact that the speaker his put his entire soul into writing and composing this poem in praise of God.